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Cape Town - Springbok coach Peter de Villiers has explained his decision to oust prop Tendai "Beast" Mtawarira from the squad for their quarter-final clash against Australia on Sunday.
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"There's nothing wrong with Tendai. There's only space for 22 players," De Villiers told the Associated Press.
Mtawarira was surprisingly not even included on the Bok bench for the clash at the Wellington Regional Stadium.
Gurthrö Steenkamp starts as loosehead prop, with CJ van der Linde on the substitutes bench. What probably gave Van der Linde the edge was the fact that he could play tighthead as well as loosehead prop.
It would, however, still be a surprise to many as Mtawarira could have been utilised effectively as an impact player.
There's still uncertainty over the fitness of winger JP Pietersen - which also played a part in the decision to omit Mtawarira.
The Boks opted for a five-two split on the bench for their clash against Samoa last week (five forwards and two backline players), but announced a more mobile list of replacements this time round, opting for three backline reserves - hence the ousting of Mtawarira to cover in case Pietersen has to leave the field.
"Beast won't be playing this week because we're looking at what combinations will work the best against the Aussies and he's not part of the plan. Unfortunately you can only pick 22 players. Part of our success over the last four years was that we did our homework well. We cannot wait for the Aussies to pick their team and then respond - we pick according to what we want to achieve - despite what they want to do," De Villiers told Beeld.
Teams:
South Africa: 15 Pat Lambie, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 John Smit (captain), 1 Gurthro Steenkamp
Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 Willem Alberts, 19 Francois Louw, 20 Francois Hougaard, 21 Butch James, 22 Gio Aplon
Australia:
TBA
* Click HERE for the latest RWC odds on BET.CO.ZA
Click to BUY the new FIFA 12 game
Click to BUY the new Drifta Mobile USB Decoder
"There's nothing wrong with Tendai. There's only space for 22 players," De Villiers told the Associated Press.
Mtawarira was surprisingly not even included on the Bok bench for the clash at the Wellington Regional Stadium.
Gurthrö Steenkamp starts as loosehead prop, with CJ van der Linde on the substitutes bench. What probably gave Van der Linde the edge was the fact that he could play tighthead as well as loosehead prop.
It would, however, still be a surprise to many as Mtawarira could have been utilised effectively as an impact player.
There's still uncertainty over the fitness of winger JP Pietersen - which also played a part in the decision to omit Mtawarira.
The Boks opted for a five-two split on the bench for their clash against Samoa last week (five forwards and two backline players), but announced a more mobile list of replacements this time round, opting for three backline reserves - hence the ousting of Mtawarira to cover in case Pietersen has to leave the field.
"Beast won't be playing this week because we're looking at what combinations will work the best against the Aussies and he's not part of the plan. Unfortunately you can only pick 22 players. Part of our success over the last four years was that we did our homework well. We cannot wait for the Aussies to pick their team and then respond - we pick according to what we want to achieve - despite what they want to do," De Villiers told Beeld.
Teams:
South Africa: 15 Pat Lambie, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 John Smit (captain), 1 Gurthro Steenkamp
Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 Willem Alberts, 19 Francois Louw, 20 Francois Hougaard, 21 Butch James, 22 Gio Aplon
Australia:
TBA
* Click HERE for the latest RWC odds on BET.CO.ZA
